Can all tractors flip over easy?

[RjCorazza]

All good info provided. You will be fine plowing on relatively level ground, even if you get anchored on a root. People get into trouble with machinery on slopes, and when chaining to anything but the drawbar.
Since you mention roots, if you need to pull any out, ALWAYS chain up to the drawbar! Chaining to the 3 point hitch (or anything higher than the center of gravity) greatly increases the chance of bringing the front end up and over.

 

[jeff9366]

I probably need a subcompact now because they look safer.

Its for plowing new ground with stumps and roots, mostly leftover roots.

I have no experience with tractors.

Subcompact tractors weigh 1,400 to 1,700 pounds. Subcompact tractors are fine for mowing grass and moving light loads around a smooth property in the FEL bucket. You can plow an established garden plot with a subcompact tractor, though most with a choice would prepare a garden with a PTO powered rototiller. Few employ subcompact weight tractors on more than two (2) smooth acres, three smooth acres tops.

As soon as a plow on a (light) subcompact tractor encounters any but the smallest underground root or other obstruction, including hard ground, the tractor will lose traction and stop.

When plowing dirt, tractor capability is a factor of 2-WD or 4-WD and tractor weight.

A 4-WD compact tractor with a bare tractor weight of at least 2,700 pounds, such as the Kubota L3901 in the second video, will pull a single bottom turning plow through almost any moist soil, including sod which has been first mowed VERY SHORT or previously killed with Roundup/Glycophosphate. Plow will sever tree roots up to 1" if roots are not too concentrated.

Compact tractors under 3,000 pounds bare weight operate in landscape, kitchen/commercial garden or hobby farm applications on one to ten flat acres.

BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR

 

[jeff9366]

I thought about buying an older tractor like an 8N.
I have no experience with tractors.

A Ford 8N will surely plow. But there are safer, easier to operate 10 year old to 20 year old compact tractors to learn on.

Ford 8N Weight
Shipping - no fluids	2,410 lbs 1093 kg
Operating	2,717 lbs 1232 kg

The compact tractor era functionally began when Henry Ford licensed Harry Ferguson's tractor and Three Point Hitch design in 1939. The tractor industry uniformly adopted the Three Point Hitch after 1955, when Ferguson's patents began to expire and his tractor and Three Point Hitch design were available to industry participants besides Ford open source.

Improvements in approximate order: Power Steering, "live" then "independent" PTOs, Rollover Protection, 4-WD, Industrial Tires, Loaders, later Loaders and attachments with SSQA couplers, synchromesh geared transmissions, Diesel Engines, heavier tractors with Category 2-3-4-5 TPH, TPH telescoping Lower Links + pin-adjustable Lower Link stabilizers, Landscaping tractors of <2,000 pounds bare tractor weight, hydrostatic transmissions, shuttle shift gear transmissions, cruise control, Cabs with heat and AC. And, continuously, shields separating operator from moving parts.

 

[workinonit]

I personally disagree with the statement that tractors flip easily. Be it backward or on their side. Don't get me wrong, tractors flip. I've seen it hundreds of times. Almost all of the times I've seen it was during the commissioning of something stupid. If an operator is aware of the limitations of equipment and operates it accordingly I surmise that operator will never flip their tractor. Of course suituations happen that take the operator and equipment out of their "bounds" and you get a roll over. Or some external force such as another driver causes a roll over or worse. But under normal operating conditions and within the bounds of the machine a tyractor is about as stable as machines come.

 

[dodge man]

I agree, tractors don’t flip easily, but any tractor can flip. On newer tractors the roll bar(ROPS) and safety belt make them safer.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

All go carts can flip. All golf carts can flip. I know first hand that 3 wheelers and 4 wheelers can flip. Tractors can flip too. If it has ROPS wear a seat belt. If no ROPS, don't wear a seat belt. Old tractors are fine. Mine is a 58 model. It's hilly here. Never flipped or rolled a tractor.

 

[npalen]

I wonder what happens with fluid filled tires in a rollover. It would seem that the momentum of the fluid might help flip a tractor over onto its top where it might have been just a roll on to its side.

 

[5030]

You can roll about anything if you try hard enough and have an empty head (no common sense).

 

[Raul-02]

maybe all tractors could flip?

Every one.
Not because they are unstable but rather because of what the operators are doing and the terrain.

I've come soooo close a few times. Always managed to get my bucket or grapple on the ground in a hurry.
One time the soil underneath me was so liquified I was sinking on one side and fast. These things come up on you really fast.
Go to Goodworks tractors youtube and watch his videos on how not to kill yourself or destroy your tractor.
There's other: Tractor Mike
Tractor Time with Tim
EverythingAtachments
Dave knows how
my wild kioti adventure
Tony's tractor adventure

 

[Eagle1]

One time the soil underneath me was so liquified I was sinking on one side and fast. These things come up on you really fast.

Been there more than once, in fact just yesterday. Digging out silt and expanding a wildlife pond that is most dry for the first time in 10 years., Rushing to beat the incoming rain. Got it 95% done last evening -- now to see what the storms did last night.